


Celebrity Status

by TenSpencerRiedPlease



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Celebrity, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Damen is a Bit Dense, Humor, I Don't Even Know, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Laurent (Captive Prince) Knows, Light Angst, M/M, Nicaise is an ass but with a purpose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-16
Updated: 2017-09-16
Packaged: 2018-12-30 10:22:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12106632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TenSpencerRiedPlease/pseuds/TenSpencerRiedPlease
Summary: “Damen we really do need to work on your ability to put very obvious hints together,” Laurent says.“You’re going to lord the fact that I had no idea you were a celebrity over my head for years, aren’t you?” he asks.“Probably forever,” Laurent confirms.Based off this prompt





	Celebrity Status

**Author's Note:**

> To any frequent readers of mine who have noticed my latest obsession with the Captive Prince... sorry. To everyone else, I hope you all like it :)
> 
> Warnings for some references to Laurent's/ Nicaise's abuse though nothing explicit.

Laurent sits across from Damen with large sunglasses on and a beanie, a look that didn’t suit him at all, but he had a weird thing about keeping his face covered in public. Damen thought it was shame because Laurent was so pretty but he couldn’t really complain about it. They had met at a coffee shop and Damen almost swiped Laurent’s coffee, which was not the kind of thing you did to him in the morning or any time really. He tore strips off Damen for a good ten minutes before Damen just asked for his coffee back and Laurent handed it over, frowning. He had found Damen the next day in the coffee shop and offered a tentative apology, he had been working with his uncle he said, and that always put him in a bad mood. Damen accepted the apology and they had an interesting conversation about Damen’s work as an archeologist. He specialized in weapon restoration, which Laurent wanted to know all about.

And now they still went to that coffee shop, when Laurent wasn’t travelling for work of course, for sentimental reasons. Laurent teased Damen about his sentimentality but he knew Laurent secretly loved that he knew the first movie they ever watched together was Love Actually, and that Laurent’s favorite color was blue not that anyone who knew him could guess otherwise with how much he wore it, and of course he knew things about Laurent that no one else knew. Like that he used to feed the stray cats in his neighborhood until his uncle caught him doing it, Damen didn’t know the rest of that story but he suspected no one else did either. He also knew Laurent loved reading, and that publically he read high fantasy _only_ unless it was non-fiction but unofficially he horded romance novels like a dragon. He knew that Laurent liked to shower at night, that he preferred sleeping in even if he never did, and that he was terrified of tarantulas.

There were lots of things Laurent knew about Damen too but he was an easy read and Laurent was freakishly intelligent, he got no points for knowing Damen loved red and had a thing for lions. Learning things about Laurent, however, was basically a full time job with how much he kept to himself. Every new thing he found out was like a small treasure collected and it only made Damen determined to know more. Even when Laurent’s nephew Nicaise literally threatened to rip his dick off if he broke Laurent’s heart. Damen had never been so scared of a fifteen year old boy before but the child looked dead serious.

“What are you thinking about that has you smiling like a sap?” Laurent asks, a small curve of his lip lifting in the smallest of smiles. Laurent didn’t smile often and he laughed even less so Damen inwardly cheers for himself at achieving such a reaction from Laurent.

“You,” Damen says honestly and even without seeing his eyes behind the sunglasses Damen knows he’s rolled his eyes. “And that time Nicaise threatened little Damen,” he adds and Laurent frowns.

“That has you smiling? You were quite worried he was serious at the time,” Laurent reminds him. Yeah, he was, Nicaise was freaking vicious.

“Yeah but now that I know he’s sort of like a Chihuahua, loud and aggressive but mostly harmless, it’s a fond memory of mine. Besides, the threat was that I had to break your heart first and I’d never do that,” he says.

Laurent smiles, “I know, Damianos,” he says softly, using Damen’s full name. It was a weakness he had even if it only worked with Laurent. Normally he didn’t much care for his full name but when Laurent said it he suddenly didn’t hate it. There was just something about the way Laurent said it that made it sound like a kiss maybe, or a brief intimate touch that only Damen could feel. Nikandros would call him a corny bastard for that but it was true and Laurent knew it given how often he used it against Damen. Every time he didn’t want to take out the trash, basically.

*

There were a million things about Damen that Laurent loved. His bravery, capacity to love, his dimple, and their sex life were all things that were high on the list but Damen’s utter stupidity was what Laurent loved the most about him. It wasn’t that Damen was actually stupid, he was highly intelligent actually, and he was very observant, more so than Laurent even. But his ability to put two and two together was so completely awful that Laurent had to marvel at how a man who was genuinely very intelligent could be so damn stupid. He would have bet ten dollars that that, in the end, was why Jokaste had left him and in the meantime wreaked him. She mistook him for an idiot given how much he noticed and how little he drew connections but Damen was… well he was Damen. Laurent though, unlike Jokaste, had a use for Damen’s impressive observation skills and lack of ability to make basic connections like a normal human.

Normal people knew who he was, and even if they didn’t they could have guessed by his aversion to outside, his tendency to hide his face in public, and the way people tried to snap pictures of him sometimes on the streets. Damen noticed all of these things, and even that he resembled… well, himself, but he didn’t put the pieces together. He had a brilliant mind, one brilliant enough to map out war strategies and weapon use from broken chunks of metal from nearly a thousand years ago but for the life of him he had no idea who Laurent really was.

At first Laurent didn’t realize, which was why he went back to apologize to Damen at that stupid coffee shop. He had been wrong to tear strips off Damen to begin with, the man only grabbed the wrong coffee, but Laurent had been _convinced_ that Damen would sell the story to the press and his uncle already whined all over Hollywood about how difficult his once promising nephew was. Laurent could ruin him permanently but unfortunately for him that would also ruin his own career so he kept his mouth shut and dealt with his uncle’s shit. But he didn’t need help given that, on the best of days, he _was_ kind of difficult so he had gone to find Damen only to find that Damen hadn’t tried to sell the story of Laurent DeVere being a raging asshole because he had n idea that it was Laurent.

Once, after their third date, Damen even commented on their similar looks and then went on to compliment Laurent’s acting abilities and go on and _on_ about how attractive he was only to realize he was talking to his date about, as far as Damen knew, someone else. Laurent had shrugged and said they all had celebrity crushes. When Damen asked who his was he said Steve Buscemi and refused to give a real answer.

Unlike most people Damen found Laurent’s aloof nature charming and no matter how much of an asshole he was he came back every time. He didn’t let Laurent get away with anything either though, which was what Laurent needed. He knew that sometimes he had a tendency to stray towards abusive, and that people were too scared to stand up to him. Sometimes he used it against them too but Damen was never like that, he never showed any fear of Laurent and he knew with one hundred percent certainty that even if he knew about Laurent’s celebrity status. Damen just wasn’t the type to back down when he knew he was right and, amazingly, when he was wrong he admitted it and acknowledged his flaws easily. Laurent had never met anyone like him and so he stuck around to learn more.

Damen was everything he could have asked for and then some, he even dealt with Nicaise trying to scare him off through threats. Nicaise was a pain in Laurent’s ass but they had bonded so Laurent took him in… well he took him in. He was terribly adjusted, got suspended from school regularly, swore more than Damen when drunk, and would probably make a piss poor adult who was going to live off Laurent’s fortune for as long as it was around and then turn to something insane like figuring out how to run a drug cartel or something but he still loved Nicaise. And Damen did too, which was important because Nicaise was an important part of Laurent’s life even if he regularly plotted to murder the child. Damen even tried to bond with Nicaise even if Nicaise refused to let it happen. Sometimes when Laurent or Nicaise or both of them were being difficult Laurent wondered how Damen even put up with them, and where his loyalty ran out.

He asked Damen that once and the way he looked at Laurent in utter shock and confusion, horrified that Laurent would ever assume Damen would walk away from someone he loved told him everything he needed to know. Later Nikandros told him that Damen’s ex Jokaste once slept with his brother, had a whole affair with him for nearly two years actually, and Damen still tried to work it out with them both because he loved them. Laurent had never known loyalty like that and unlike Damen’s moron ex and shit excuse for a brother Laurent would never hurt Damen like that.

If Damen noticed that Laurent’s bad moods seemed to mostly disappear after that he didn’t say anything. Laurent though, he was done with trying to push Damen away. Not when he knew how big a heart he had, how brave he was to not only trust people with it, but to give it back to them after they broke it. Laurent would never know an act of bravery like that. He had handed over piece by piece of himself to Damen grudgingly and nearly kicking and screaming but Damen gave his love freely. Laurent almost wished he could do that too, but then he’d remember why he was so guarded to begin with and close his walls again.

Damen’s loyalty and love was why, eventually, he decided to make Damen’s connections for him and invite him to a ‘work event’. It was really a film premiere of Laurent’s latest movie, a historical piece where he plays a spy who was very much unlike himself, which had been the point when he got into acting but now sometimes he found his characters utterly ridiculous. He was good at being someone else though so he continued with it regardless of how he felt about spy movies (he hates them). Damen, who knew nothing of his being a celebrity, had been more than a little shocked when he had been brought to a film premiere and have cameras flashing in his face every ten seconds or less. Laurent smiles and accepts all the attention, adoring fans, irritating interview questions, and uncomfortable clothing that went along with these things. Damen, despite his shock, handled it all very well.

*

When Damen commented that Laurent looked like Laurent DeVere he didn’t think he was actually talking to Laurent DeVere. It occurred to him that dating a man for six months should require you to know their last name but for some reason he hadn’t asked and he couldn’t believe he was dating a _celebrity_. He saw all the pieces of the puzzle now that he knew. Laurent disliked going out in public, he insisted on covering his face and his distinctive blonde hair, Nicaise was sent to a private school and Laurent _refused_ to send him elsewhere, he was always off on long hours travelling for his work. The man filmed half a movie while dating him and Damen didn’t even noticed, he just thought it was sweet that Laurent would fly back just to visit him for a couple days and take off again. That was a lot of jetleg for basically nothing.

He was _dating_ Laurent DeVere. On their third date he went on a rant about how awesome Laurent was to Laurent not realizing they were the same Laurent. No wonder he had shrugged it off and laughed hard enough to cause suspicion. Damen just thought he was laughing at his own joke about Steve Buscemi or Damen’s rambling. He told Laurent he owned all of the movies he was in. Oh, that was just embarrassing.

“It was flattering, you know,” Laurent tells him when he comes into the kitchen for coffee. Nicaise is already perched at the island in the center of the kitchen with coffee in his school uniform looking bored and vaguely annoyed. He reminded Damen of a younger, angrier Laurent. Whatever happened to that kid he had a lot of issues now but Laurent was good with him, very good. If Damen didn’t know better he’d assume they shared whatever experience messed them both up but they only met like three years ago so that wasn’t possible. He was curious about what inspired Laurent to take custody of the angry teen but when he asked about it once Nicaise stabbed him with a fork so he left it alone lest he get stabbed again. Besides, Nicaise’s life wasn’t really his business and he was just as private as Laurent.

And there was another thing, Laurent and his privacy. His whole family was famous, his parents were actors, his brother went into stunt work and died doing it, his uncle was a famous director, and Laurent of course was an actor like his parents. Growing up in the limelight couldn’t have been a pleasant experience, no wonder he was so intensely private about everything.

“Laurent, I’m going to a party after school,” Nicaise announces and, because Laurent’s parenting always shocked him, Laurent nods.

“Don’t do anything stupid, I’m not going to deal with the social fall out of you knocking up some random teen. And don’t do drugs,” he says in a bland tone, like he was discussing the weather.

Nicaise snickers, “you should see Damen’s face. He looks like you told me I had permission to fuck the president on a live feed to the entire world,” he says. He looks delighted, which was normal for Nicaise, but Damen really didn’t understand Laurent’s parenting skills. Especially since they didn’t work, Nicaise was always causing trouble.

“What?” Laurent asks, “I either let him go and know where he is and what he’s doing or he goes and I have no idea where he is or what he’s doing. Besides, I trust Nicaise not to do something he’d regret.”

Damen raises an eyebrow; “he got suspended three times last week. I didn’t even know that was _possible_.”

“Two were in school suspensions, those don’t even count,” Nicaise says, rolling his eyes.

“I swear you don’t know Nicaise at all. _No_ tequila,” Laurent adds to his list of things Nicaise shouldn’t do. “Don’t you give me that look, I will _not_ deal with your hangover in the morning if you drink tequila. Stick to a liquor you can handle.”

“Whisky,” Damen suggests because why not?

“Whisky is _disgusting_ ,” Nicaise says in a tone that suggests he thinks Damen is some kind of barbarian. Before Nicaise and Laurent he had no idea that people could jam so much meaning into a simple sentence with tone alone. He had to admit he was impressed.

“Nicaise, you like whisky so don’t act like an ass,” Laurent tells him without looking up from his coffee.

“Do not,” Nicaise mumbles.

“Do so. You drank all of mine,” he reminds him and right, Damen remembered that now. Laurent was annoyed that Nicaise had drank his stash.

“I was desperate,” Nicaise sniffs, nose in the air.

“Were not, you’re not an alcoholic and even if you were you had wine earlier that night. So stop intentionally being rude to Damen and get to school, you’re going to be late,” Laurent tells him.

Nicaise grumbles but gets out of the chair he was sitting in and trudges towards his room to get his school things. On his way back past the kitchen he sticks his head in, “weed?” he asks and Laurent rolls his eyes.

“I don’t care about weed, it’s a plant. _No_ salvia, I don’t care that it’s a plant,” he adds when Nicaise looks like he’s about to say something gleefully. Nicaise goes back to looking annoyed and makes his way to the door. “You’ll be back by two at the latest or I’ll send the entire police force after you,” Laurent yells to him.

“Sure, _dad_ ,” Nicaise calls after him in a mocking tone and with that the door slams as Nicaise leaves.

Laurent turns to face Damen with his coffee. “He asked,” he says.

Damen frowns, “what?”

“Nicaise. I told him no drugs and he asked about the weed. That’s why I let him do stupid things you know, if I don’t he’ll do them anyways and I’ll have to find out about it later and worry that this time what he did will permanently screw him up. This way if I at least try and give him some limits and talk to him I’ll know what he’s doing. Plus, on rare occasions, he asks me first so I know that somewhere in there he does respect my opinion,” Laurent says. He casts the door a worried look and Damen shakes his head.

“My father would have beat my ass if I talked to him like Nicaise talks to… everyone.” Theomedes wasn’t exactly strict, but he did have standards that would have had him running for the hills if he ever talked to anyone like Nicaise talked to Laurent and everyone else.

“I know Nicaise, at one point I pretty much _was_ Nicaise. He’ll eventually grow out of his angry teenager phase and realize that sometimes pushing everyone away through treating them like shit won’t work. Not for the ones that actually care anyways. The problem is that right now most people are afraid to stand up to him,” Laurent says, sighing.

“Sounds like you,” Damen notes. No one stood up to Laurent except Damen and sometimes Nicaise, but he never won an argument with Laurent. They just went around in circles until Nicaise had to admit defeat and go lick his wounds. Damen mostly stayed out of it, Nicaise wasn’t really his responsibility and he wouldn’t know how to handle him anyways, but it wasn’t like Nicaise was unaware of how Damen felt about his attitude.

Laurent smiles, “but then I met someone who stood up to me,” he says, eyeing Damen.

“I can’t believe I ranted about you to you,” Damen blurts and Laurent throws back his head and laughs. That, to Damen at least, was more important than all the times he’s called Laurent on being an ass for no reason at all.

“It was one of our finer conversations,” Laurent tells him.

*

At one fifty nine in the morning Nicaise storms through the house, obviously intent on waking up the entire continent, the dead and all, and Laurent secretly hopes he breaks an ankle or something. But at least he listened to the limits Laurent set, he didn’t always but more recently he was calming down some. Or at least he had until Damen showed up in his life. With any hope Laurent would only have to put up with another year of this before Nicaise stopped acting like an asshole. He really, _really_ hoped that Nicaise would stop with this behavior in the next year.

*

Damen, in an attempt to maybe bond with Nicaise or something, gives him a glass full of the most disgusting blend of things Nicaise would ever consume. “It’s a hangover cure,” he tells him. Nicaise looks at the glass in disgust and leans forward a little but Damen pulls the glass back. “Trust me, you don’t want to sniff it. Just plug your nose and chug it as fast as you can, lay down for a half an hour, and then you’ll be fine,” he says, extending the glass again.

Nicaise must have been desperate because he takes the concoction, plugs his nose, and drains the cup. He practically flings the cup back at Damen and stalks off as Laurent walks into the kitchen. “Thanks for being back by two,” Laurent tells Nicaise as he passes.

“Fuck off,” Nicaise snaps and he disappears into his room.

“What’s that?” Laurent asks, nodding to Damen’s cup.

“Hangover cure,” Damen says.

“He must have been desperate if he actually drank that. It looks like it came from Mars,” Laurent says, eyeing the cup distastefully.

“Tastes like it too,” Damen tells him and Laurent cracks a small smile, shaking his head.

*

Sure the Internet was mean, but Damen didn’t think he’d get _death threats_ for dating Laurent. Laurent seemed unaffected by the whole relationship fallout, especially since tabloids had been making scathing comments about his cool demeanor and lack of a relationship for some time now. Damen did his research and honestly people were cruel to Laurent just because he was disinterested in relationships and, beyond that, sex. It made no sense to Damen why anyone would care so much about a sex life (or lack thereof) that wasn’t their own but people had some _wild_ theories about it. One even included Laurent being a lizard secretly and by then Damen decided that reading things online about Laurent wasn’t the best idea.

“They’ll get over it you know,” Laurent tells him as he scrolls through some mean tweets on his Twitter account.

“This one guy called me a ‘lumpy roid rager’ and told me I didn’t deserve you. I mean half of that is true but still,” Damen says, closing the web page.

Laurent frowns, “you take steroids?” he asks, obviously surprised.

Damen frowns, “what? No, I don’t take steroids where the hell did you get that idea?” he asks.

“He means the part where he doesn’t deserve you, you fucking idiot,” Nicaise tells Laurent, sauntering into the room looking less dead than he had six hours ago. Damen grinds his teeth a little at the insult to Laurent but Laurent just rolls his eyes at Nicaise.

“At least I’m an idiot that knows how to drink,” he counters. “Always eat bread before bed, it rhymes so you can’t possibly screw it up. Remember it,” he tells Nicaise in a tone so haughty that it made up for the insult Nicaise had tossed Laurent’s way. Damen had no idea how he did that but then apparently Laurent was a freaking actor so it shouldn’t surprise him.

Nicaise looks properly shamed though he still glares at Laurent as he opens the fridge and starts rooting around in it. “Who ate my wrap?” he asks, turning his glare to Damen.

“Learn some respect and I won’t eat your left overs,” he says. Nicaise rolls his eyes and moves to the freezer, “you gelato is gone too,” Damen tells him. Nicaise spares him a disgusted look and stomps off to his room.

Laurent, who had been silently shaking off to the side, starts laughing in earnest. “You ate Nicaise’s gelato? You don’t even _like_ gelato,”

Damen shrugs, “it was the most disgusting pint of anything I’ve had to endure but I figured maybe if someone disrespected the rules he wanted respected he might stop being a little prick because he’d know how it felt to be in your position. Eating his special food was the only way I figured I could do that without being a creep or a raging asshole, plus its not like he’s going to starve without the gelato. That wrap was good,” he says appreciatively.

Laurent starts laughing harder, “oh my god you got petty revenge on my pseudo child by eating things you don’t even like and it’s going to start a war. Don’t worry honey, I’ll make sure you win,” Laurent tells him. He walks over and kisses Damen on the cheek and leaves the kitchen. Damen frowns as he watches Laurent go because how would he lose a war with a fifteen year old kid?

*

Damen was going to sell Nicaise to research on horrible teenagers if he ever touched his notes again. They were _orderly_ and _neat_ , unlike literally everything else in Damen’s life, and the little bastard _messed them all up_. Not only that but he changed all the contact names in Damen’s phone so he had no idea who anyone was, and his laptop had five viruses from downloading _clown porn_. Which Nicaise made sure Laurent saw. Damen, in return, has stolen Nicaise’s favorite pillow, eaten three more pints of gelato, and licked Nicaise’s sub while he was standing right there just to ruin it for him. Laurent found the entire thing amusing and staved off filming some other movie just to watch his and Nicaise’s petty battle that, so far, had no clear winner.

Eventually Laurent gives Damen some tips to win the war and just in the nick of time given that Nicaise found his pillow. “ _Ha_ , I found it you big dumb brute!” Nicaise says, waving his pillow above his head like a trophy.

“Sure, and I’ve got you gelato,” Damen tells him, waving the pint around.

Nicaise narrows his eyes at him, “give it back,” he tells Damen in a tone that might have sounded dangerous coming from Laurent but Nicaise wasn’t that intimidating to Damen.

“Sure,” he says and removes the lid. He licks the gelato and hands it over.

“I’ll scrape that bit off,” Nicaise tells him, nose in the air.

Damen grins because Laurent said he’d say that. “Fine then,” Damen says and he sticks the spoon he was carrying in his mouth and then shoves it into the gelato, holding it back out to Nicaise. He could try eating around _that_.

Nicaise gives the gelato a distasteful look, “you can keep it,” he mumbles, admitting defeat and retreating with his pillow. Laurent got the gelato now, there was no way Damen was eating any more of it. His having to lick it was more than enough for the rest of his life.

The plus side, he guessed, was that Nicaise never had to worry about Damen going near his gelato ever again.

*

Laurent didn’t really want the role but at least this one wasn’t terrible. He got to play an archeologist and Damen was full of fun and interesting archeology facts for him to absorb. He also got the privilege of pointing out script errors thanks to Damen’s expertise and nothing made him happier than taking irritating scriptwriters down a peg or fifty.

The public, though sufficiently distracted by Laurent’s new project, was still up in arms about Damen’s presence in his life but he was taking it better than expected. His first foray into paparazzi photo bombing in which the photographers were bombing the subjects of the photo instead of the subjects bombing the photographer went pretty well. The random press people locating him in various places, including the gym, had thrown him but Laurent warned him that it would happen. Damen had been irritated but he dealt with it and held no malice to Laurent despite the fact that Laurent tossed him headfirst into this with no warning. Oddly enough it was when the press started harassing Damen’s friends that he started to get angry. Laurent shouldn’t have been surprised, Damen was fiercely protective, but Nikandros loved the newfound attention and liked telling embarrassing stories about Damen.

He handled that well too, people knowing embarrassing stories about him from his childhood thanks to his asshole childhood friend. If Laurent had that happen to him he would have had Nikandros flayed alive while he sunbathed in front of him but Damen was an open book. Laurent thought he was weird for it but that was his business. Laurent hadn’t wanted to leave him so soon after their reveal but sadly he had to work and Damen, ever the understanding one, told him to go. He also had more personal reasons for wanting to stick around- he doubted Nicaise has let Damen winning their petty war go but he did instruct him to be nice while Laurent was gone. Damen was too honest for Nicaise to be messing around with.

That hardly meant he expected them to actually _bond_ while he was gone but Nicaise had called and not on their scheduled time so Laurent had answered assuming Nicaise was dying or something dire. He had been pleased to learn that no, Nicaise was not in mortal danger, he was just… excited. Nicaise didn’t do excitement, he did danger, so Laurent had been pretty surprised when he had called and Nicaise went on about some thing Damen took him to for about a half an hour before Laurent put the pieces together.

“Damen took you to some lecture on the history of _brothels_?” he asks, frowning.

“Yes, that’s what I said now keep up. Honestly you’re getting old if you hadn’t already figured that out,” Nicaise says and Laurent rolls his eyes. He wasn’t even that much older than Nicaise so he best watch who he called _old_. “I asked questions that made the whole room blush,” he says proudly.

Laurent shakes his head even if Nicaise couldn’t see it. Of course he made the whole room blush. “That’s nice, Nicaise,” he deadpans.

“What? It’s not my fault that the whole room thought that I should have been sexually ignorant. The professor said I had very good inquiries though,” he says, pride still in his tone.

Laurent doesn’t mention that most people Nicaise’s age _were_ sexually ignorant because that was a bigger subject. Instead he focuses on Nicaise’s interest. “I wouldn’t have thought you’d care much about the history of brothels,” he says. Not much outside the illicitness of sex anyways and given that it was Damen who took him to this thing the focus was clearly on _history_ , not _sex_. Even if they were sort of intertwined given the subject.

“Neither did I, I only went mostly because you told me to be nice and brothels didn’t sound as boring as Damen’s stupid weapons but it was actually really interesting. Did you know that people spend entire _careers_ studying stuff like that? Damen told me that there are people who study the history of sexuality too. I didn’t even know sexuality _had_ a history. Did you know what different cultures had different ideas about sexuality? I didn’t,” he says and he continues going off on several tangents that Laurent patiently listened to because Nicaise didn’t really develop interests, he developed goals. He would set his sights on something and then work to achieve it and most of the time he was successful. The problem was that his goals were usually self destructive or just regular destructive so Laurent welcomed something new. It would pay to keep Nicaise entertained with something other than setting a new record for the amount of times he could get suspended in a week.

And as usual the new change for the better came from Damen. Laurent was starting to owe him quite a bit for his ability to turn messes into something decent.

*

Damen had no idea that Nicaise would take an interest in sexuality or the history of it, he had just invited him to the lecture because it would keep him from spending his Friday night doing something stupid without Laurent around to make sure he wasn’t acting like an ass. Technically he had a secondary guardian but he’s seen the way the poor woman looked at Nicaise, she wasn’t about to tell him what to do so he stepped in. He figured brothels were just sexy enough to capture his interest but he didn’t actually expect him to drop his plans and _go_ let alone take an interest in the subject matter.

“Thank you,” Laurent says softly as they watch Nicaise pour over some old books he found… Damen wasn’t actually sure where they came from and knowing Nicaise he didn’t think it was wise to ask.

“For what?” Damen asks.

“For giving him an interest that wasn’t related to giving himself alcohol poisoning,” Laurent says.

He shrugs, “that’s all Nicaise. I just took him to a lecture. You really should teach him what appropriate questions are, by the way. I don’t think I’ve ever seen people blush en masse like that.” Nicaise had a _filthy_ imagination and honestly Damen didn’t need to be exposed to the inner workings of the child’s mind.

Laurent laughs, “so he told me. He was very proud and I couldn’t crush it for him, besides, you two bonded. That’s exciting,” he says and he looks excited too.

“For about three seconds, now he knows more than me. I do weapons, not sex.” He had this lovely axe he was restoring at the moment and it was practically his child. The blade had been in pieces when it was found and it was almost a complete now. It took _forever_ to locate and place all the chunks and flakes together to make it whole again but it was worth it.

“Shame,” Laurent says, “I have questions and I’m not asking them to Nicaise, that’s weird. So, when that damn movie I just finished filming comes out want to see it?” he asks.

His lips curl up as Damen glares at him, “absolutely _not_. First of all it is _not_ the ‘dark ages’, it’s the _Middle_ Ages, all the archeology terms you sent me were all wrong or misused, and I just can’t watch you fumble around with artifacts I know you’ll be mishandling for two hours even if I know they’re all props. It would hurt me to do so,” he says honestly. “I love you, but not so much to watch you decimate my profession.”

Laurent smiles and lets out a small laugh, “that’s probably one of the sweetest things anyone has ever said to me.”

Damen frowns, “that was an insult, I think you need higher standards for affection and since I apparently set the bar so low I’ll take the opportunity to raise it. Laurent, you are probably the smartest person I’ve ever met, you’re funny, you’re caring, and even though you’re sometimes an ass this is the best romantic relationship I’ve ever had. And to top all that off you’re gorgeous too,” he says, smiling at Laurent.

“Damen, you’re last ex slept with your brother and every relationship you had before that spanned a few hours at best. Obviously I’m the best you’ve ever had, everything else you’ve had sucked,” Laurent points out. “That is hardly a compliment.”

He shakes his head, “you’re diabolical,” he says and Laurent smiles.

“Much better. And I love you too,” he says.

“Huh?”

Laurent rolls his eyes, “you told me you loved me. You’re the first person to ever tell me that in a relationship actually. Well I love you too,” he says. It took a lot, Damen knew, for Laurent to say that. He wasn’t used to showing love or receiving it so to admit out loud that he felt something like that was a huge step for him.

“I approve,” Nicaise says, interrupting their moment.

Damen frowns but Laurent rolls his eyes. “Your approval is not needed,” he says.

“Is so. And I approve,” Nicaise repeats.

“And here I thought you were hell bent on breaking us up by acting like an ass to get Damen to snap at you and say something mean that he would regret later so I’d boot him out of my life. Instead he ate your gelato because he’s a good man,” Laurent says. Nicaise looks shocked and Laurent looks smug, “yes, I knew all about your little plan. You might like to cause trouble but you usually aren’t an absolute _demon_. I figured out your plan probably before you did.”

Damen looks back and forth between them because _what_? Nicaise looks annoyed, “I didn’t think he was good enough for you. He was all muscle no brains, don’t look at me like that Laurent, he was too stupid to figure out you were a celebrity. He ranted about you _to_ you. I thought you deserved better and I thought… well it didn’t work anyways. Stay away from my gelato,” Nicaise tells Damen, glaring at him.

“I don’t even like gelato,” Damen says in a dumbfounded voice. Nicaise looks deeply offended by this revelation and shakes his head.

“I will never speak to you again,” he says and he leaves the room.

Damen frowns, “no offense but am I actually supposed to be upset by that?” he asks and Laurent laughs softly.

“Maybe he’ll give me some peace and quiet too. In all seriousness though Damen we really do need to work on your ability to put very obvious hints together,” Laurent says.

“You’re going to lord the fact that I had no idea you were a celebrity over my head for years, aren’t you?” he asks.

“Probably forever,” Laurent confirms.

**Author's Note:**

> [My writing Tumblr](https://tenspencerriedplease.tumblr.com/)


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